'Neers pull off comeback for OT win

<b> Southern Vermont College's Dolapo Olugbile goes up for a layup against Daniel Webster College on Tuesday night. Olugbile scored all 19 of his points in the second half as the Mountaineers battled back from 17 points down to win in overtime. (Geoff Smith) </b>

Southern Vermont College's Dolapo Olugbile goes up for a layup against Daniel Webster College on Tuesday night. Olugbile scored all 19 of his points in the second half as the Mountaineers battled back from 17 points down to win in overtime. (Geoff Smith)

BENNINGTON -- Down by double digits to start the second half, the Southern Vermont College men's basketball team stormed back against Daniel Webster College to post a 92-85 victory in overtime at the Mountaineer Athletic Center on Tuesday night.

Dolapo Olugbile scored all 19 of his points in the second half to lead the Mountaineer comeback, while Antoine White posted all 11 of his points in the second half and finished with 11 rebounds, nine assists, and two steals to set the tone for the Mountaineers.

"Those are my captains," said SVC coach Dan Engelstad of the pair. "Those are my leaders. We are going to go where they take us."

The Mountaineers came out flat-footed in the first half, and Daniel Webster made the team pay as the Eagles shot 8-for-16 from beyond the arc to take a 46-31 lead into the break.

At the start of the second half, the Eagles kept that pace up when Ryan Gauthier (20 points) hit a three on a pass from Ray Farmer to take a 51-34 lead early in the period.

With eight minutes gone in the second, Daris Cosby found Kevin Perez for a layup to make it a 62-45 game. But from that bucket forward, the momentum started to shift.

Jordan Alston (12 points) started the push when he was fouled on a three and converted on all three attempts at the line to cut it to a 62-48 game.

The Eagles would push the lead back out to 12 when Farmer made one free throw to make it 68-56, but the Mountaineers responded with a 15-2 run to take the lead at 71-70 when Rayshawn Taylor (14 points) intercepted a pass and took it the distance for a layup.

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"We turned them over a bit and started to make some plays," Engelstad said. "We knew we needed stops. They shot the heck out of the ball in the first half. I knew they weren't going to keep making it at that clip if we defended on them how we are supposed to."

The Eagles would respond on a deep trey from Gauthier to make it 73-71, but DeShawn Hamlet (game-high 26 points) scored under the basket to tie the game up.

The lead would go back to the Eagles at 76-73 on a drive from Perez, and Cosby would give Daniel Webster a 79-75 lead on a pair of free throws with just over a minute to play. But after exchanging baskets and free throws to make it 81-80 Daniel Webster, the Eagles had a shot to seal the game with time winding down.

Perez took the ball to the rack, but missed on his shot and White grabbed the rebound. At the other end, White tried to set up an offense with less than 10 seconds left, but instead was fouled by Farmer to send White to the line with a chance to seal it.

White would miss the first, but make the second to tie things up at 81-81 and send the game into overtime.

"Everyone on this team, from top to bottom, has a lot of fight," White said. "We didn't give up. We just kept chipping away. It started on the defensive side. We got stops and got out on the break."

In overtime, it was all SVC as Hamlet scored the first basket of the extra period to take a lead the team would not give up.

Overtime was capped by Taylor, who took a pass from Brandon Casella and slammed it home to give SVC a 92-83 lead.

Olugbile finished with eight rebounds to go along with his point total, and Casella added four assists off the bench.

SVC moves to 10-4 with the win, and 4-1 in the New England Collegiate Conference. Daniel Webster falls to 10-3, and 3-2 in the NECC. SVC plays next on Thursday at home against Wheelock.

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